PCMC warns chemical firm

PUNE, Dec 8: Dai-Ichi Karkaria Private Limited, a chemical company at Kasarwadi, has been served with a notice by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Mu...

PUNE, Dec 8: Dai-Ichi Karkaria Private Limited, a chemical company at Kasarwadi, has been served with a notice by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) for releasing “untreated effluents” through a canal which later joins the Pavana river, endangering the flora and fauna in the river.

The notice comes as a sequel to the two incidents of death of a large number of fish in the river near Kasarwadi in the last week of October.

The PCMC has warned the company to immediately iniate the process of treating the effluents and according to the stipulated conditions of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), use the treated water for gardening purposes at the company premises.

It has cautioned the company that if appropritate action was not taken before December 16, the company’s industrial licence would be cancelled. Incidentally, the two occurences of death of fish had also figured in the discussions at the civic general body meetings in the last week of November during which the corporators had taken the administration to task for its alleged failure to take appropriate action. Municipal Commissioner Ganesh Thakur had asserted that the administration had taken serious cognisance of the incidents and action would follow soon.

Thakur told the general body meeting yesterday that the samples of the effluents collected from the canal near Shankarwadi at Kasarwadi were sent to the State public health laboratory and the NCL for a chemical analysis. The effluents had been collected from an outlet near the boundary wall of Dai-Ichi. The analysis report concluded that the BOD (biological oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) were higherthan prescribed limits.